Date format - Americanism

[Alex Page]

Has anyone worked out how to change the formating of the date parameter in a titleblock to read

DD/MM/YY (ie: most of the world instead of american version MM/DD/YY :x )

My project manager almost had a fit when I issued dwgs yesterday

04/05/04 - which in this country means 4th MAY 2004 - instead of 5th April 2004

You can understand the problem...do I need to manually type dates after all?
Actually, thinking about it, I rather like seeing "4th April 2004" in my titleblock, rather than short form
Help????

[Scott D Davis]

Look at the default out-of-the-box titleblocks. They have the date format more like what you want. You will need to go into the titleblock family, edit the label parameter, and change the format to what ever you like.

http://www.zoogdesign.com/forums/phpBB2/download.php?id=1971

[Dimitri Harvalias]

Alex,
Not sure but isn't the date format set in your Windows settings? Any windows compliant program will default to the windows setup.
Go to the control panel and regional and language settings.

[Alex Page]

HCSL
Nope...have already changed the regional settings in Control panel to have dates how I want them...

Scott Davis
When I go to change the format, a message comes up saying 'Formatting can only be specified for ...." and doesnt include 'date'...so not sure what you meant....

[Dimitri Harvalias]

OK Alex,
Scott's right. My little tip only helps with other windows based programs(Excel, Word etc.) and their date formats. It does, however, control the date/time stamp format (do I get half a point for a partially correct answer? :wink:)

[Scott D Davis]

hmmm..upon further investigation, I see what you mean. I thought it was definable!

Here, from Revit Help file:


To track printing times, a time and date stamp appears on sheets. You can format the display of this stamp using the Regional Settings command on your computer.

But this only works for the Label called Date/Time Stamp. Hmmmm.....why don't all dates read this "regional setting"? Maybe Revit needs another catagory under project "Units" for time and date formats.

[Scott D Davis]

oh, by the way, mine defaults to the MM-DD-YYY format. 04-05-2004 is April 5, 2004. Is that what you wanted? Or the opposite?

[beegee]

In the title block family, select the date label, then the "select parameter" button from the Options Bar, then in the "Value" field for that parameter, type in the format you want.

[Alex Page]

Scott Davis:
Yeah...unfortunately I need the opposite: dd/mm/yy :(

beegee :
That just changes the Sample Text.....as soon as I load it into a dwg it updates to mm/dd/yy :(

please correct me if Im wrong!
:D

[beegee]

beegee :
That just changes the Sample Text.....as soon as I load it into a dwg it updates to mm/dd/yy :(

please correct me if Im wrong!
:D

Hmmm, worked for me some time ago I thought , ... I'll do some tests.

[beegee]

I did a couple of tests and found that I could enter any date format I liked and it works ! :shock:

http://www.zoogdesign.com/forums/phpBB2/download.php?id=1973
http://www.zoogdesign.com/forums/phpBB2/download.php?id=1974
http://www.zoogdesign.com/forums/phpBB2/download.php?id=1975

[Scott D Davis]

Yes, you can enter anything you want, but the "automatic" date will come in the dd/mm/yyyy format. When you first bring in the titleblock, Revit automatically inserts the date. We need to have control of this automatic insertion format, to avoid having to manually enter it over again.

[beegee]

Yes, you can enter anything you want, but the "automatic" date will come in the dd/mm/yyyy format. When you first bring in the titleblock, Revit automatically inserts the date. We need to have control of this automatic insertion format, to avoid having to manually enter it over again.

Ahhh, What you're seeing in my post is the titleblock sheet in a project, not the family. The date is entered via the Project Information dialogue. It appears to accept any format in this particulary titleblock .

[Alex Page]

beegee:
yeah, but I want it to update automatically, as Scott Pointed out....

[beegee]

We're obviously talking about different things here.

The Project Issue Date is manually entered via the Project Information dialogue. It represents a date that the documents were issued for a particular stage of the project ie Town Planning Approval, Bid stage etc. It only gets changed at project milestones. It appears that the format of this field will accept any date format.

The Date Stamp is another stamp that is updated whenever a project is printed in hard copy. Its format comes from the Regional Settings in Windows.

http://www.zoogdesign.com/forums/phpBB2/download.php?id=1976

[Alex Page]

Beegee...you know, I think Ive got confused over this thread of today!
Just realised that your last reply was like a quote from our company procedure manual; which, I wrote! (oops)

Now I realise my logic was wrong, but interesting that you cant format it!!

Thanks everyone for your input

:oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops:

[Scott D Davis]

I started where beegee's last post leave's off. I opened the titleblock, added another label, and assigned it to 'Date' and placed it near the sheet name area. I then inserted this sheet into a project, and Revit automatically plugged in the date, according to the system time, but with formatting in the mm/dd/yyyy even though in regional settings, I had changed to dashes instead of slashes. Then if I selected the propoertirs of the titleblock, there was the date 04/05/2004. But I could select it and change it to anthing I wanted. I think it only plugged in the date for me on insertion of the titleblock. After that, it was up to me to change it or leave it.

So now we need two things: abilty to set date/time format, and the ability to "refresh" the date to take on a new date without manually typing it in.

[Nic M.]

I also have some issues with the date labels in Revit

- "Project Issue Date" is linked to the project information box, can contain any sort of format or information. No problem for me

- "Sheet Issue Date" is linked to the properties box of the sheet. When a new sheet is inserted in a project, this field gives default the American date stamp (12-31-04). Can be manualy changed but is annoying and can be overlooked. This label should be able to edit its format.

- "Date/Time Stamp" the date and time of the plot, updated when a sheet is plotted. It seems to me that this label get its format from the windows system. No problem for me

My wish is to be able to format all date fields

[beegee]

And I have yet to figure out why you would want to use a "sheet issue date" if there's a date/time stamp on the sheet anyway. ?

Only advantage I can see is that you can schedule a sheet issue date, but as you say Nic, theres a potential danger since it needs to manually updated.

[Steve_Stafford]

...have yet to figure out why you would want to use a "sheet issue date" if there's a date/time stamp on the sheet anyway....

Since you've clearly had too many :beer: 's :twisted: I'll point out that it's quite possible that sheets are plotted and issued on different dates, so the assumption that the plot date suffices for date issued would be likely wrong. We could plot this Friday but the formal "issued date" might be Tuesday next, based on when the official "set" or "addendum" is shipped or "released".

[Nic M.]

It's not a "must have" wish but I remember spending some time on this to figure out the how and what. (trial and error until I got every possibility covered)
Its more a confusing to the user thing (at least to me)

[beegee]

Since you've clearly had too many :beer: 's :twisted: I'll point out that it's quite possible that sheets are plotted and issued on different dates, so the assumption that the plot date suffices for date issued would be likely wrong. We could plot this Friday but the formal "issued date" might be Tuesday next, based on when the official "set" or "addendum" is shipped or "released".

Too many... never!

I see your point, if not your logic.

You can track a print by its plot date to determine if its the latest drawing issued for construction or whatever. ( Assuming your QA got screwed up and there's an incorrect revision/issue number on the sheet )
If the plot set is held over for release, I would normally be using a document transmittal / covering letter to record the particulars of the issue status. It doesn't need to go on every sheet IMHO. Just one more thing that you don't need to track.
But then, I like to keep things as simple as possible. :wink:

[ita]

Agreed beegee!! Checked out my title blocks and they accept any format. The time/date date follows the system preference. seems you may have some setting conflict in the system control panel??

[irneb]

I've got exactly the same problem. My Control Panel - Regional Settings are YYYY-MM-DD, but no mater what I do the Sheet Issue date comes out MM/DD/YY. See attached.

Is Revit only meant to be used in the US?

[LRaiz]

By design Revit is letting user take responsibility to fill in issue date field. It would have been wrong to enforce the automatic assignment. Thus Revit allows to type in anything in this field. Unfortunately because Revit initializes the field according to US conventions it confuses some users. It would have been better if the field was initially left blank and filling it would be completely up to user.

[gsucci]

hhmmmm....

guys, there seem to be NO date format in Revit.

The only date format field is the plot stamp.
Anything else is just text. You can type your pet's name in the Issue Date for a sheet, and Revit would not complain...

This whole thread on the date format is hitting a dead horse: there are no date fields, with the exception of that plot stamp.

So, what ever date you see in those fields are just sample text values, nothing more. You have to type in a date no matter what.

regards

gio

[irneb]

Thanks for clearing it up ... unfortunately what the "sample text" does is confuse the user in thinking that Revit calculates the date automatically ... thus making the user want to format the date - big mistake!

The sample text should have been something similar to the Project Name field: i.e. Enter date here ...

That way there would be no confusion

[charliep]

is there any way to edit the date/time stamp so that it only shows the date and not the time?

[Rick Houle]

I would like to see a "Last Saved By" in that stamp..!

[ededios]

is there any way to edit the date/time stamp so that it only shows the date and not the time?

I have that same problem, I can't get rid of the time. I hope someone out there knows.

[Munkholm]

hhmmmm....

guys, there seem to be NO date format in Revit.

The only date format field is the plot stamp.
Anything else is just text. You can type your pet's name in the Issue Date for a sheet, and Revit would not complain...

This whole thread on the date format is hitting a dead horse: there are no date fields, with the exception of that plot stamp.

So, what ever date you see in those fields are just sample text values, nothing more. You have to type in a date no matter what.

regards

gio

Gio is right here. And the date field for Sheet Issue Date, needs to be a manually entered. (I don´t necessarily, create the sheets, the same day they are issued) It´s a shame though, that Revit suggest a date format, instead of just "enter issue date here"
It would be nice if the field could be a calendar pick, and the formatting could be se in Project Units, or similar place. Also a possibility to pick several sheets, and change the date for all of them at once, would be very helpful!

[tomnewsom]

Also a possibility to pick several sheets, and change the date for all of them at once, would be very helpful!

You can do this by Ctrl-Clicking the sheets in the Browser, then getting the Properties Window up. You can alter sheet parameters for all selected sheets, including Date.

[ws]

Never knew that - really useful tip thanks :)